Outdoor shots - C&C

I posted a thread yesterday - the day my d90 arrived - with a few shots I took in and around the house (the thread can be found here). They weren't the best but I recieved some good C&C and went back out today intending to improve. I shot 373 photographs, widdled that down to 25, edited those, then widdled that down to 16. All of these photographs have been edited for color (+/- 2%) and brightness/contrast, nothing too extensive.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

All of these were shot on a Nikon d90 using a Tonika 12-24mm lens and the very first photograph was shot using a tripod. My main problem yesterday was that I was encountering a lot of noise (mostly due to the fact that I was shooting at night without a tripod). I think I fixed that today but many of the photos in this set (which you can view in it's entirety here) seem to be lacking a focal point. A lot of that could be fixed by going out with a friend and having them model in some of the shots (especially the ones shot by the creek and trees) but I'm interested in hearing what you guys have to say. I also feel like I'm not quite getting the "pop" and quality I should be for shooting with a d90, though I can pretty much be assured this is on my end. If you guys have any suggested settings for any of the shots you see above, please let me know

they arent bad... with numbers 1 and 2 the DOF is off... unless this is what you were going with.. but with number one, the main focus seems to just be on the right side of the bank, and with number 2, its the grass.. if thats what you were aiming for, then they are fine, but especially with #2, it would have been great for the whole image to be in focus

If you want some in depth critique, limit it to 3 MAX photos - preferably only one.

1,2,3 - The focus is close on nothing I find of interest.

4 - My favorite. I would like the top cropped down to where just a little sky is showing. Also, would like either all of the near ends of the bench board showing or none - don't really know which without seeing both.

5 - Should be interesting, but it's not??? I have no ideas.

6 - Make it just about the bridge. Crop the entire top off and clone out the distractions including whatever that is in the center.

7 - The white lights are all blown out - the big one hurts to look at it. I think you are going to have to use some kind if filter or PP technique to get the white lights and the other detail.

8 - ????

9 - Come back when those lights on the railing are gone and work on getting just the bench and that bridge (???) to the left. Get ALL of both of them - especially the bench. Make the pole behind the bench inconspicuous if you can.